Chapter 3: Research and Critical Reading

Thu, 04/10/2008 - 14:50 pz

Introduction
Good researchers and writers examine their sources critically and actively. They do not just compile and summarize these
research sources in their writing, but use them to create their own ideas, theories, and, ultimately, their own, new
understanding of the topic they are researching. Such an approach means not taking the information and opinions that the
sources contain at face value and for granted, but to investigate, test, and even doubt every claim, every example, every
story, and every conclusion. It means not to sit back and let your sources control you, but to engage in active conversation
with them and their authors. In order to be a good researcher and writer, one needs to be a critical and active reader.
This chapter is about the importance of critical and active reading. It is also about the connection between critical reading
and active, strong writing. Much of the discussion you will find in this chapter in fundamental to research and writing, no
matter what writing genre, medium, or academic discipline you read and write in. Every other approach to research writing,
every other research method and assignment offered elsewhere in this book is, in some way, based upon the principles
discussed in this chapter.
Reading is at the heart of the research process. No matter what kinds of research sources and, methods you use, you are
always reading and interpreting text. Most of us are used to hearing the word reading in relation to secondary sources,
such as books, journals, magazines, websites, and so on. But even if you are using other research methods and sources,
such as interviewing someone or surveying a group of people, you are reading. You are reading their subjects ideas and
views on the topic you are investigating. Even if you are studying photographs, cultural artifacts, and other non-verbal
research sources, you are reading them, too by trying to connect them to their cultural and social contexts and to understand
their meaning. Principles of critical reading which we are about to discuss in this chapter apply to those research situations
as well.
I like to think about reading and writing as not two separate activities but as two tightly connected parts of the same whole.
That whole is the process of learning and making of new meaning. It may seem that reading and writing are complete
opposite of one another. According to the popular view, when we read, we consume texts, and when we write, we
produce texts. But this view of reading and writing is true only if you see reading as a passive process of taking in
information from the text and not as an active and energetic process of making new meaning and new knowledge. Similarly,
good writing does not come from nowhere but is usually based upon, or at least influenced by ideas, theories, and stories
that come from reading. So, if, as a college student, you have ever wondered why your writing teachers have asked you to
read books and articles and write responses to them, it is because writers who do not read and do not actively engage with
their reading, have little to say to others.
We will begin this chapter with the definition of the term critical reading. We will consider its main characteristics and briefly
touch upon ways to become an active and critical reader. Next, we will discuss the importance of critical reading for research
and how reading critically can help you become a better researcher and make the research process more enjoyable. Also in
this chapter, a student-writer offers us an insight into his critical reading and writing processes. This chapter also shows how
critical reading can and should be used for critical and strong writing. And, as all other chapters, this one offers you activities
and projects designed to help you implement the advice presented here into practice.

What Kind of Reader Are You?

You read a lot, probably more that you think. You read school textbooks, lecture notes, your classmates papers, and class
websites. When school ends, you probably read some fiction, magazines. But you also read other texts. These may include
CD liner notes, product reviews, grocery lists, maps, driving directions, road signs, and the list can go on and on. And you
dont read all these texts in the same way. You read them with different purposes and using different reading strategies and
techniques. The first step towards becoming a critical and active reader is examining your reading process and your reading
preferences. Therefore, you are invited to complete the following exploration activity.

Writing Activity: Analyzing your Reading Habits

List all the reading you have done in the last week. Include both school and out-of school reading. Try to list as many
texts as you can think of, no matter how short and unimportant they might seem. Now, answer the following questions.

What was your purpose in reading each of those texts? Did you read for information, to pass a test, for enjoyment,
to decide on a product you wanted to buy, and so on? Or, did you read to figure out some complex problem that
keeps you awake at night?
You have probably come up with a list of different purposes. How did each of those purposes influence your
reading strategies? Did you take notes or try to memorize what you read? How long did it take you to read different
texts? Did you begin at the beginning and read till you reached the end, or did you browse some texts? Consider
the time of day you were reading. Consider even whether some texts tired you out or whether you thought they
were boring. Why?

What did you do with the results of your reading? Did you use them for some practical purpose, such as buying a
new product or finding directions, or did you use them for a less practical purpose, such as understanding some
topic better r learning something about yourself and others?

When you finish, share your results with the rest of the class and with your instructor.
Having answered the questions above, you have probably noticed that your reading strategies differed depending on the
reading task you were facing and on what you planned to do with the results of the reading. If, for example, you read lecture
notes in order to pass a test, chances are you read for information, or for the main point, trying to remember as much
material as possible and anticipating possible test questions. If, on the other hand, you read a good novel, you probably just
focused on following the story. Finally, if you were reading something that you hoped would help you answer some personal
question or solve some personal problem, it is likely that you kept comparing and contrasting the information that you read
your own life and your own experiences.
You may have spent more time on some reading tasks than others. For example, when we are interested in one particular
piece of information or fact from a text, we usually put that text aside once we have located the information we were looking
for. In other cases, you may have been reading for hours on end taking careful notes and asking questions.
If you share the results of your investigation into your reading habits with your classmates, you may also notice that some of
their reading habits and strategies were different from yours. Like writing strategies, approaches to reading may vary from
person to person depending on our previous experiences with different topics and types of reading materials, expectations
we have of different texts, and, of course, the purpose with which we are reading.
Life presents us with a variety of reading situations which demand different reading strategies and techniques. Sometimes, it
is important to be as efficient as possible and read purely for information or the main point. At other times, it is important to
just let go and turn the pages following a good story, although this means not thinking about the story you are reading. At

the heart of writing and research, however, lies the kind of reading known as critical reading. Critical examination of sources
is what makes their use in research possible and what allows writers to create rhetorically effective and engaging texts.

Key Features of Critical Reading

Critical readers are able to interact with the texts they read through carefully listening, writing, conversation, and questioning.
They do not sit back and wait for the meaning of a text to come to them, but work hard in order to create such meaning.
Critical readers are not made overnight. Becoming a critical reader will take a lot of practice and patience. Depending on
your current reading philosophy and experiences with reading, becoming a critical reader may require a significant change in
your whole understanding of the reading process. The trade-off is worth it, however. By becoming a more critical and active
reader, you will also become a better researcher and a better writer. Last but not least, you will enjoy reading and writing a
whole lot more because you will become actively engaged in both.
One of my favorite passages describing the substance of critical and active reading comes from the introduction to their
book Ways of Readingwhose authors David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky write:

Reading involves a fair measure of push and shove. You make your mark on the book and it makes its mark on you.
Reading is not simply a matter of hanging back and waiting for a piece, or its author, to tell you what the writing has to say.
In fact, one of the difficult things about reading is that the pages before you will begin to speak only when the authors are
silent and you begin to speak in their place, sometimes for themdoing their work, continuing their projectsand
sometimes for yourself, following your own agenda (1).

Notice that Bartholomae and Petrosky describe reading process in pro-active terms. Meaning of every text is made, not
received. Readers need to push and shove in order to create their own, unique content of every text they read. It is up the
you as a reader to make the pages in front of you speak by talking with and against the text, by questioning and expanding
it.
Critical reading, then, is a two-way process. As reader, you are not a consumer of words, waiting patiently for ideas from the
printed page or a web-site to fill your head and make you smarter. Instead, as a critical reader, you need to interact with
what you read, asking questions of the author, testing every assertion, fact, or idea, and extending the text by adding your
own understanding of the subject and your own personal experiences to your reading.
The following are key features of the critical approach to reading:

No text, however well written and authoritative, contains its own, pre-determined meaning.

Readers must work hard to create meaning from every text.

Critical readers interact with the texts they read by questioning them, responding to them, and expanding them,
usually in writing.
To create meaning, critical readers use a variety of approaches, strategies, and techniques which include applying

their personal experiences and existing knowledge to the reading process.

Critical readers seek actively out other texts, related to the topic of their investigation.

The following section is an examination of these claims about critical reading in more detail.

Texts Present Ideas, Not Absolute Truths

In order to understand the mechanisms and intellectual challenges of critical reading, we need to examine some of our
deepest and long-lasting assumptions about reading. Perhaps the two most significant challenges facing anyone who wants
to become a more active and analytical reader is understanding that printed texts doe not contain inarguable truths and
learning to questions and talk back to those texts. Students in my writing classes often tell me that the biggest challenge
they face in trying to become critical readers is getting away from the idea that they have to believe everything they read on
a printed page. Years of schooling have taught many of us to believe that published texts present inarguable, almost
absolute truths. The printed page has authority because, before publishing his or her work, every writer goes through a
lengthy process of approval, review, revision, fact-checking, and so on. Consequently, this theory goes, what gets published
must be true. And if it is true, it must be taken at face value, not questioned, challenged, or extended in any way.
Perhaps, the ultimate authority among the readings materials encountered by college belongs to the textbook. As students,
we all have had to read and almost memorize textbook chapters in order to pass an exam. We read textbooks for
information, summarizing their chapters, trying to find the main points and then reproducing these main points during
exams. I have nothing against textbook as such, in fact, I am writing one right now. And it is certainly possible to read
textbooks critically and actively. But, as I think about the challenges which many college students face trying to become
active and critical readers, I come to the conclusion that the habit to read every text as if they were preparing for an exam on
it, as if it was a source of unquestionable truth and knowledge prevents many from becoming active readers.
Treating texts as if they were sources of ultimate and unquestionable knowledge and truth represents the view of reading as
consumption. According to this view, writers produce ideas and knowledge, and we, readers, consume them. Of course,
sometimes we have to assume this stance and read for information or the main point of a text. But it is critical reading that
allows us to create new ideas from what we read and to become independent and creative learners.
Critical reading is a collaboration between the reader and the writer. It offers readers the ability to be active participants in
the construction of meaning of every text they read and to use that meaning for their own learning and self-fulfillment. Not
even the best researched and written text is absolutely complete and finished. Granted, most fields of knowledge have texts
which are called definitive. Such texts usually represent our best current knowledge on their subjects. However, even the
definitive works get revised over time and they are always open to questioning and different interpretations.

Reading is a Rhetorical Tool

To understand how the claim that every reader makes his or her meaning from texts works, it is necessary to examine what
is know as the rhetorical theory of reading. The work that best describes and justifies the rhetorical reading theory is
Douglas Brents 1992 book Reading as Rhetorical Invention: Knowledge, Persuasion, and the Teaching of Research-Based
Writing. I like to apply Brents ideas to my discussions of critical reading because I think that they do a good job demystifying
critical readings main claims. Brents theory of reading is a rhetorical device puts significant substance behind the
somewhat abstract ideas of active and critical reading, explaining how the mechanisms of active interaction between
readers and texts actually work.
Briefly explained, Brent treats reading not only as a vehicle for transmitting information and knowledge, but also as a means
of persuasion. In fact, according to Brent, knowledge equals persuasion because, in his words, Knowledge is not simply
what one has been told. Knowledge is what one believes, what one accepts as being at least provisionally true. (xi). This
short passage contains two assertions which are key to the understanding of mechanisms of critical reading. Firstly, notice
that simply reading for the main point will not necessarily make you believe what you read. Surely, such reading can fill

our heads with information, but will that information become our knowledge in a true sense, will we be persuaded by it, or
will we simply memorize it to pass the test and forget it as soon as we pass it? Of course not! All of us can probably recall
many instances in which we read a lot to pass a test only to forget, with relief, what we read as soon as we left the
classroom where that test was held. The purpose of reading and research, then, is not to get as much as information out of
a text as possible but to change and update ones system of beliefs on a given subject (Brent 55-57).
Brent further states:

The way we believe or disbelieve certain texts clearly varies from one individual to the next. If you present a text that is
remotely controversial to a group of people, some will be convinced by it and some not, and those who are convinced will be
convinced in different degrees. The task of a rhetoric of reading is to explain systematically how these differences arise
how people are persuaded differently by texts (18).

Critical and active readers not only accept the possibility that the same texts will have different meanings for different
people, but welcome this possibility as an inherent and indispensable feature of strong, engaged, and enjoyable reading
process. To answer his own questions about what factors contribute to different readers different interpretations of the
same texts, Brent offers us the following principles that I have summarized from his book:

Readers are guided by personal beliefs, assumptions, and pre-existing knowledge when interpreting texts. You
can read more on the role of the readers pre-existing knowledge in the construction of meaning later on in this
chapter.

Readers react differently to the logical proofs presented by the writers of texts.
Readers react differently to emotional and ethical proofs presented by writers. For example, an emotional story told
by a writer may resonate with one person more than with another because the first person lived through a similar
experience and the second one did not, and so on.

The idea behind the rhetorical theory of reading is that when we read, we not only take in ideas, information, and facts, but
instead we update our view of the world. You cannot force someone to update their worldview, and therefore, the purpose
of writing is persuasion and the purpose of reading is being persuaded. Persuasion is possible only when the reader is
actively engaged with the text and understands that much more than simple retrieval of information is at stake when
reading.
One of the primary factors that influence our decision to accept or not to accept an argument is what Douglas Brent calls our
repertoire of experience, much of [which] is gained through prior interaction with texts (56). What this means is that when
we read a new text, we do not begin with a clean slate, an empty mind. However unfamiliar the topic of this new reading
may seem to us, we approach it with a large baggage of previous knowledge, experiences, points of view, and so on. When
an argument comes in into our minds from a text, this text, by itself, cannot change our view on the subject. Our prior
opinions and knowledge about the topic of the text we are reading will necessarily filter out what is incompatible with those
views (Brent 56-57). This, of course, does not mean that, as readers, we should persist in keeping our old ideas about
everything and actively resist learning new things. Rather, it suggests that the reading process is an interaction between the
ideas in the text in front of us and our own ideas and pre-conceptions about the subject of our reading. We do not always
consciously measure what we read according to our existing systems of knowledge and beliefs, but we measure it
nevertheless. Reading, according to Brent, is judgment, and, like in life where we do not always consciously examine and
analyze the reasons for which we make various decisions, evaluating a text often happens automatically or subconsciously
(59).
Applied to research writing, Brents theory or reading means the following:

The purpose of research is not simply to retrieve data, but to participate in a conversation about it. Simple
summaries of sources is not research, and writers should be aiming for active interpretation of sources instead

There is no such thing as an unbiased source. Writers make claims for personal reasons that critical readers need
to learn to understand and evaluate.
Feelings can be a source of shareable good reason for belief. Readers and writers need to use, judiciously, ethical
and pathetic proofs in interpreting texts and in creating their own.

Research is recursive. Critical readers and researchers never stop asking questions about their topic and never
consider their research finished.

Active Readers Look for Connections Between Texts

Earlier on, I mentioned that one of the traits of active readers is their willingness to seek out other texts and people who may
be able to help them in their research and learning. I find that for many beginning researchers and writers, the inability to
seek out such connections often turns into a roadblock on their research route. Here is what I am talking about.
Recently, I asked my writing students to investigate some problem on campus and to propose a solution to it. I asked them
to use both primary (interviews, surveys, etc.) and secondary (library, Internet, etc.) research. Conducting secondary
research allows a writer to connect a local problem he or she is investigating and a local solution he or she is proposing with
a national and even global context, and to see whether the local situation is typical or a-typical.
One group of students decided to investigate the issue of racial and ethnic diversity on our campus. The lack of diversity is a
hot issue on our campus, and recently an institutional task force was created to investigate possible ways of making our
university more diverse.
The students had no trouble designing research questions and finding people to interview and survey. Their subjects
included students and faculty as well as the university vice-president who was changed with overseeing the work of the
diversity task force. Overall, these authors have little trouble conducting and interpreting primary research that led them to
conclude that, indeed, our campus is not diverse enough and that most students would like to see the situation change.
The next step these writers took was to look at the websites of some other schools similar in size and nature to ours, to see
how our university compared on the issue of campus diversity with others. They were able to find some statistics on the
numbers of minorities at other colleges and universities that allowed them to create a certain backdrop for their primary
research that they had conducted earlier.
But good writing goes beyond the local situation. Good writing tries to connect the local and the national and the global. It
tries to look beyond the surface of the problem, beyond simply comparing numbers and other statistics. It seeks to
understand the roots of a problem and propose a solution based on a local and well as a global situation and research. The
primary and secondary research conducted by these students was not allowing them to make that step from analyzing local
data to understanding their problem in context. They needed some other type of research sources.
At that point, however, those writers hit an obstacle. How and where, they reasoned, would we find other secondary
sources, such as books, journals, and websites, about the lack of diversity on our campus? The answer to that question was
that, at this stage in their research and writing, they did not need to look for more sources about our local problem with the
lack of diversity. They needed to look at diversity and ways to increase it as a national and global issue. They needed to
generalize the problem and, instead of looking at a local example, to consider its implications for the issue they were
studying overall. Such research would not only have allowed these writers to examine the problem as a whole but also to
see how it was being solved in other places. This, in turn, might have helped them to propose a local solution.
Critical readers and researchers understand that it is not enough to look at the research question locally or narrowly. After
conducting research and understanding their problem locally, or as it applies specifically to them, active researchers

contextualize their investigation by seeking out texts and other sources which would allow them to see the big picture.
Sometimes, it is hard to understand how external texts which do not seem to talk directly about you can help you research
and write about questions, problems, and issues in your own life. In her 2004 essay, Developing Interesting Thoughts:
Reading for Research, writing teacher my former colleague Janette Martin tells a story of a student who was writing a paper
about what it is like to be a collegiate athlete. The emerging theme in that paper was that of discipline and sacrifice required
of student athletes. Simultaneously, that student was reading a chapter from the book by the French philosopher Michel
Foucault called Discipline and Punish. Foucaults work is a study of the western penitentiary system, which, of course
cannot be directly compared to experiences of a student athlete. At the same time, one of the leading themes in Foucaults
work is discipline. Martin states that the student was able to see some connection between Foucault and her own life and
use the reading for her research and writing (6). In addition to showing how related texts can be used to explore various
aspects of the writers own life, this example highlights the need to read texts critically and interpret them creatively. Such
reading and research goes beyond simply comparing of facts and numbers and towards relating ideas and concepts with
one another.

From Reading to Writing

Reading and writing are the two essential tools of learning. Critical reading is not a process of passive consumption, but one
of interaction and engagement between the reader and the text. Therefore, when reading critically and actively, it is
important not only to take in the words on the page, but also to interpret and to reflect upon what you read through writing
and discussing it with others.

Critical Readers Understand the Difference Between Reacting and Responding to

A Text
As stated earlier in this chapter, actively responding to difficult texts, posing questions, and analyzing ideas presented in
them is the key to successful reading. The goal of an active reader is to engage in a conversation with the text he or she is
reading. In order to fulfill this goal, it is important to understand the difference between reacting to the text and responding to
it.
Reacting to a text is often done on an emotional, rather than on an intellectual level. It is quick and shallow. For example, if
we encounter a text that advances arguments with which we strongly disagree, it is natural to dismiss those ideas out of
hand as not wrong and not worthy of our attention. Doing so would be reacting to the text based only on emotions and on
our pre-set opinions about its arguments. It is easy to see that reacting in this way does not take the reader any closer to
understanding the text. A wall of disagreement that existed between the reader and the text before the reading continues to
exist after the reading.
Responding to a text, on the other hand, requires a careful study of the ideas presented and arguments advanced in it.
Critical readers who possess this skill are not willing to simply reject or accept the arguments presented in the text after the
first reading right away. To continue with our example from the preceding paragraph, a reader who responds to a
controversial text rather than reacting to it might apply several of the following strategies before forming and expressing an
opinion about that text.

Read the text several times, taking notes, asking questions, and underlining key places.

Study why the author of the text advances ideas, arguments, and convictions, so different from the readers own.
For example, is the texts author advancing an agenda of some social, political, religious, or economic group of
which he or she is a member?
Study the purpose and the intended audience of the text.
Study the history of the argument presented in the text as much as possible. For example, modern texts on highly
controversial issues such as the death penalty, abortion, or euthanasia often use past events, court cases, and
other evidence to advance their claims. Knowing the history of the problem will help you to construct meaning of a
difficult text.
Study the social, political, and intellectual context in which the text was written. Good writers use social conditions
to advance controversial ideas. Compare the context in which the text was written to the one in which it is read. For
example, have social conditions changed, thus invalidating the argument or making it stronger?
Consider the authors (and your own) previous knowledge of the issue at the center of the text and your
experiences with it. How might such knowledge or experience have influenced your reception of the argument?

Taking all these steps will help you to move away from simply reacting to a text and towards constructing informed and
critical response to it.
To better understand the key differences between reacting and responding and between binary and nuanced reading,
consider the table below.

Critical Readers Resist Oversimplified Binary Responses

Critical readers learn to avoid simple agree-disagree responses to complex texts. Such way of thinking and arguing is often
called binary because is allows only two answers to every statement and every questions. But the world of ideas is
complex and, a much more nuanced approach is needed when dealing with complex arguments.
When you are asked to critique a text, which readers are often asked to do, it does not mean that you have to criticize it
and reject its argument out of hand. What you are being asked to do instead is to carefully evaluate and analyze the texts
ideas, to understand how and why they are constructed and presented, and only then develop a response to that text. Not
every text asks for an outright agreement or disagreement. Sometimes, we as readers are not in a position to either simply
support an argument or reject it. What we can do in such cases, though, is to learn more about the texts arguments by
carefully considering all of their aspects and to construct a nuanced, sophisticated response to them. After you have done all
that, it will still be possible to disagree with the arguments presented in the reading, but your opinion about the text will be
much more informed and nuanced than if you have taken the binary approach from the start.

Two Sample Student Responses

To illustrate the principles laid out in this section, consider the following two reading responses. Both texts respond to a very
well known piece, A Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King, Jr. In the letter, King responds to criticism from
other clergymen who had called his methods of civil rights struggle unwise and untimely. Both student writers were given
the same response prompt:
After reading Kings piece several times and with a pen or pencil in hand, consider what shapes Kings letter. Specifically,
what rhetorical strategies is he using to achieve a persuasive effect on his readers? In making your decisions, consider such
factors as background information that he gives, ways in which he addresses his immediate audience, and others.
Remember that your goal is to explore Kings text, thus enabling you to understand his rhetorical strategies better.
Student A

Martin Luther King Jrs Letter from Birmingham Jail is a very powerful text. At the time when minorities in America were
silenced and persecuted, King had the courage to lead his people in the struggle for equality. After being jailed in
Birmingham, Alabama, King wrote a letter to his fellow clergymen describing his struggle for civil rights. In the letter, King
recounts a brief history of that struggle and rejects the accusation that it is unwise and untimely. Overall, I think that Kings
letter is a very rhetorically effective text, one that greatly helped Americans to understand the civil rights movement.

Student B

King begins his Letter from Birmingham Jail by addressing it to his fellow clergymen. Thus, he immediately sets the tone
of inclusion rather than exclusion. By using the word fellow in the address, I think he is trying to do two things. First of all,
he presents himself as a colleague and a spiritual brother of his audience. That, in effect, says you can trust me, I am one
of your kind. Secondly, by addressing his readers in that way, King suggests that everyone, even those Americans who are
not directly involved in the struggle for civil rights, should be concerned with it. Hence the word fellow. Kings opening
almost invokes the phrase My fellow Americans or My fellow citizens used so often by American Presidents when they
address the nation.

King then proceeds to give a brief background of his actions as a civil rights leader. As I read this part of the letter, I was
wondering whether his readers would really have not known what he had accomplished as a civil rights leader. Then I
realized that perhaps he gives all that background information as a rhetorical move. His immediate goal is to keep reminding
his readers about his activities. His ultimate goal is to show to his audience that his actions were non-violent but peaceful. In
reading this passage by King, I remembered once again that it is important not to assume that your audience knows
anything about the subject of the writing. I will try to use this strategy more in my own papers.
In the middle of the letter, King states: The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that
it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. This sentence looks like a thesis statement and I wonder why he did not place
it towards the beginning of the text, to get his point across right away. After thinking about this for a few minutes and rereading several pages from our class textbook, I think he leaves his thesis till later in his piece because he is facing a notso-friendly (if not hostile) audience. Delaying the thesis and laying out some background information and evidence first helps
a writer to prepare his or her audience for the coming argument. That is another strategy I should probably use more often in
my own writing, depending on the audience I am facing.

Reflecting on the Responses

To be sure, much more can be said about Kings letter than either of these writers have said. However, these two responses
allow us to see two dramatically different approaches to reading. After studying both responses, consider the questions
below.

Which response fulfills the goals set in the prompt better and why?
Which responses shows a deeper understanding of the texts by the reader and why?
Which writer does a better job at avoiding binary thinking and creating a sophisticated reading of Kings text and
why?

Which writer is more likely to use the results of the reading in his or her own writing in the future and why?
Which writer leaves room for response to his text by others and why?

Critical Readers Do not Read Alone and in Silence

One of the key principles of critical reading is that active readers do not read silently and by themselves. By this I mean that
they take notes and write about what they read. They also discuss the texts they are working with, with others and compare
their own interpretations of those texts with the interpretations constructed by their colleagues.
As a college student, you are probably used to taking notes of what you read. When I was in college, my favorite way of
preparing for a test was reading a chapter or two from my textbook, then closing the book, then trying to summarize what I
have read on a piece of paper. I tried to get the main points of the chapters down and the explanations and proofs that the
textbooks authors used. Sometimes, I wrote a summary of every chapter in the textbook and then studied for the test from
those summaries rather than from the textbook itself. I am sure you have favorite methods of note taking and studying from
your notes, too.
But now it strikes me that what I did with those notes was not critical reading. I simply summarized my textbooks in a more
concise, manageable form and then tried to memorize those summaries before the test. I did not take my reading of the
textbooks any further than what was already on their pages. Reading for information and trying to extract the main points, I

did not talk back to the texts, did not question them, and did not try to extend the knowledge which they offered in any way. I
also did not try to connect my reading with my personal experiences or pre-existing knowledge in any way. I also read in
silence, without exchanging ideas with other readers of the same texts. Of course, my reading strategies and techniques
were dictated by my goal, which was to pass the test.
Critical reading has other goals, one of which is entering an on-going intellectual exchange. Therefore it demands different
reading strategies, approaches, and techniques. One of these new approaches is not reading in silence and alone. Instead,
critical readers read with a pen or pencil in hand. They also discuss what they read with others.

Strategies for Connecting Reading and Writing

If you want to become a critical reader, you need to get into a habit of writing as you read. You also need to understand that
complex texts cannot be read just once. Instead, they require multiple readings, the first of which may be a more general
one during which you get acquainted with the ideas presented in the text, its structure and style. During the second and any
subsequent readings, however, you will need to write, and write a lot. The following are some critical reading and writing
techniques which active readers employ as they work to create meanings from texts they read.

Underline Interesting and Important Places in the Text

Underline words, sentences, and passages that stand out, for whatever reason. Underline the key arguments that you
believe the author of the text is making as well as any evidence, examples, and stories that seem interesting or important.
Dont be afraid to get it wrong. There is no right or wrong here. The places in the text that you underline may be the same
or different from those noticed by your classmates, and this difference of interpretation is the essence of critical reading.

Take Notes

Take notes on the margins. If you do not want to write on your book or journal, attach post-it notes with your comments to
the text. Do not be afraid to write too much. This is the stage of the reading process during which you are actively making
meaning. Writing about what you read is the best way to make sense of it, especially, if the text is difficult.
Do not be afraid to write too much. This is the stage of the reading process during which you are actively making meaning.
Writing about what you read will help you not only to remember the argument which the author of the text is trying to
advance (less important for critical reading), but to create your own interpretations of the text you are reading (more
important).
Here are some things you can do in your comments

Ask questions.

Agree or disagree with the author.

Question the evidence presented in the text
Offer counter-evidence
Offer additional evidence, examples, stories, and so on that support the authors argument

Mention other texts which advance the same or similar arguments

Mention personal experiences that enhance your reading of the text

Write Exploratory Responses

Write extended responses to readings. Writing students are often asked to write one or two page exploratory responses to
readings, but they are not always clear on the purpose of these responses and on how to approach writing them. By writing
reading responses, you are continuing the important work of critical reading which you began when you underlined
interesting passages and took notes on the margins. You are extending the meaning of the text by creating your own
commentary to it and perhaps even branching off into creating your own argument inspired by your reading. Your teacher
may give you a writing prompt, or ask you to come up with your own topic for a response. In either case, realize that reading
responses are supposed to be exploratory, designed to help you delve deeper into the text you are reading than note-taking
or underlining will allow.
When writing extended responses to the readings, it is important to keep one thing in mind, and that is their purpose. The
purpose of these exploratory responses, which are often rather informal, is not to produce a complete argument, with an
introduction, thesis, body, and conclusion. It is not to impress your classmates and your teacher with big words and
complex sentences. On the contrary, it is to help you understand the text you are working with at a deeper level. The verb
explore means to investigate something by looking at it more closely. Investigators get leads, some of which are fruitful and
useful and some of which are dead-ends. As you investigate and create the meaning of the text you are working with, do not
be afraid to take different directions with your reading response. In fact, it is important resist the urge to make conclusions or
think that you have found out everything about your reading. When it comes to exploratory reading responses, lack of
closure and presence of more leads at the end of the piece is usually a good thing. Of course, you should always check with
your teacher for standards and format of reading responses.
Try the following guidelines to write a successful response to a reading:
Remember your goalexploration. The purpose of writing a response is to construct the meaning of a difficult text. It is not
to get the job done as quickly as possible and in as few words as possible.
As you write, talk back to the text. Make comments, ask questions, and elaborate on complex thoughts. This part of the
writing becomes much easier if, prior to writing your response, you had read the assignment with a pen in hand and marked
important places in the reading.
If your teacher provides a response prompt, make sure you understand it. Then try to answer the questions in the prompt to
the best of your ability. While you are doing that, do not be afraid of bringing in related texts, examples, or experiences.
Active reading is about making connections, and your readers will appreciate your work because it will help them understand
the text better.
While your primary goal is exploration and questioning, make sure that others can understand your response. While it is OK
to be informal in your response, make every effort to write in a clear, error-free language.
Involve your audience in the discussion of the reading by asking questions, expressing opinions, and connecting to
responses made by others.

Use Reading for Invention

Use reading and your responses to start your own formal writing projects. Reading is a powerful invention tool. While
preparing to start a new writing project, go back to the readings you have completed and your responses to those readings
in search for possible topics and ideas. Also look through responses your classmates gave to your ideas about the text.
Another excellent way to start your own writing projects and to begin research for them is to look through the list of

references and sources at the end of the reading that you are working with. They can provide excellent topic-generating and
research leads.

Keep a Double-Entry Journal

Many writers like double-entry journals because they allow us to make that leap from summary of a source to interpretation
and persuasion. To start a double-entry journal, divide a page into two columns. As you read, in the left column write down
interesting and important words, sentences, quotations, and passages from the text. In the right column, right your reaction
and responses to them. Be as formal or informal as you want. Record words, passages, and ideas from the text that you find
useful for your paper, interesting, or, in any, way striking or unusual. Quote or summarize in full, accurately, and fairly. In the
right-hand side column, ask the kinds of questions and provide the kinds of responses that will later enable you to create an
original reading of the text you are working with and use that reading to create your own paper.

Dont Give Up
If the text you are reading seems too complicated or boring, that might mean that you have not attacked it aggressively and
critically enough. Complex texts are the ones worth pursuing and investigating because they present the most interesting
ideas. Critical reading is a liberating practice because you do not have to worry about getting it right. As long as you make
an effort to engage with the text and as long as you are willing to work hard on creating a meaning out of what you read, the
interpretation of the text you are working with will be valid.
IMPORTANT: So far, we have established that no pre-existing meaning is possible in written texts and that critical and
active readers work hard to create such meaning. We have also established that interpretations differ from reader to reader
and that there is no right or wrong during the critical reading process. So, you may ask, does this mean that any reading
of a text that I create will be a valid and persuasive one? With the exception of the most outlandish and purposely-irrelevant
readings that have nothing to do with the sources text, the answer is yes. However, remember that reading and interpreting
texts, as well as sharing your interpretations with others are rhetorical acts. First of all, in order to learn something from your
critical reading experience, you, the reader, need to be persuaded by your own reading of the text. Secondly, for your
reading to be accepted by others, they need to be persuaded by it, too. It does not mean, however, that in order to make
your reading of a text persuasive, you simply have to find proof in the text for your point of view. Doing that would mean
reverting to reading for the main point, reading as consumption. Critical reading, on the other hand, requires a different
approach. One of the components of this approach is the use of personal experiences, examples, stories, and knowledge for
interpretive and persuasive purposes. This is the subject of the next section of this chapter.

One Critical Readers Path to Creating a Meaning: A Case

Study
Earlier on in this chapter, we discussed the importance of using your existing knowledge and prior experience to create new
meaning out of unfamiliar and difficult texts. In this section, Id like to offer you one student writers account of his meaningmaking process. Before I do that, however, it is important for me to tell you a little about the class and the kinds of reading
and writing assignments that its members worked on.
All the writing projects offered to the members of the class were promoted by readings, and students were expected to
actively develop their own ideas and provide their own readings of assigned texts in their essays. The main text for the class

was the anthology Ways of Reading edited by David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky that contains challenging and
complex texts. Like for most of his classmates, this approach to reading and writing was new to Alex who had told me earlier
that he was used to reading for information or for the main point.
In preparation for the first writing project, the class read Adrienne Richs essay When We Dead Awaken: Writing as
Revision. In her essay, Rich offers a moving account of her journey to becoming a writer. She makes the case for
constantly revising ones life in the light of all new events and experiences. Rich blends voices and genres throughout the
essay, using personal narrative, academic argument, and even poetry. As a result, Rich creates the kind of personal-public
argument which, on the one hand, highlights her own life, and on the other, illustrates that her Richs life is typical for her
time and her environment and that her readers can also learn from her experiences.
To many beginning readers and writers, who are used to a neat separation of personal and academic argument, such a
blend of genres and styles may seem odd. In fact, on of the challenges that many of the students in the class faced was
understanding why Rich chooses to blend personal writing with academic and what rhetorical effects she achieves by doing
so. To After writing informal responses to the essay and discussing it in class, the students were offered the following writing
assignment:
Although Rich tells a story of her own, she does so to provide an illustration of an even larger storyone about what it
means to be a woman and a writer. Tell a story of your own about the ways you might be said to have been named or
shaped or positioned by an established or powerful culture. Like Rich (and perhaps with similar hesitation), use your own
experience as an illustration of both your own situation and the situation of people like you. You should imagine that the
assignment is a way for you to use (and put to the test) some of Richs terms, words like re-vision, renaming, and
structure. (Bartholomae and Petrosky 648).
Notice that this assignment does not ask students to simply analyze Richs essay, to dissect its argument or main points.
Instead, writers are asked to work with their own experiences and events of their own lives in order to provide a reading of
Rich which is affected and informed by the writers own lives and own knowledge of life. This is critical reading in action
when a reader creates his or her ones own meaning of a complex text by reflecting on the relationship between the content
of that text and ones own life.
In response to the assignment, one of the class members, Alex Cimino-Hurt, wrote a paper that re-examined and reevaluated his upbringing and how those factors have influenced his political and social views. In particular, Alex was trying
to reconcile his own and his parents anti-war views with the fact than a close relative of his was fighting in the war in Iraq as
he worked on the paper. Alex used such terms as revision and hesitation to develop his piece.
Like most other writers in the class, initially Alex seemed a little puzzled, even confused by the requirement to read someone
elses text through the prism of his own life and his own experiences. However, as he drafted, revised, and discussed his
writing with his classmates and his instructor, the new approach to reading and writing became clearer to him. After finishing
the paper, Alex commented on his reading strategies and techniques and on what he learned about critical reading during
the project:

On Previous Reading Habits and Techniques

Previously when working on any project whether it be for a History, English, or any other class that involved reading and
research, there was a certain amount of minimalism. As a student I tried to balance the least amount of effort with the best
grade. I distinctly remember that before, being taught to skim over writing and reading so that I found main points and
highlighted them. The value of thoroughly reading a piece was not taught because all that was needed was a shallow
interpretation of whatever information that was provided followed by a regurgitation. [Critical reading] provided a dramatic
difference in perspective and helped me learn to not only dissect the meaning of a piece, but also to see why the writer is

using certain techniques or how the reading applies to my life.

On Developing Critical Reading Strategies

When reading critically I found that the most important thing for me was to set aside a block of time in which I wouldnt have
to hurry my reading or skip parts to Get the gist of it. Developing an eye fordetail came in two ways. The first method is
to read the text several times, and the second is to discuss it with my classmates and my teacher. It quickly became clear to
me that the more I read a certain piece, the more I got from it as I became more comfortable with the prose and writing style.
With respect to the second way, there is always something that you can miss and there is always a different perspective that
can be brought to the table by either the teacher or a classmate.

On Reading Richs Essay

In reading Adrienne Richs essay, the problem for me wasnt necessarily relating to her work but instead just finding the right
perspective from which to read it. I was raised in a very open family so being able to relate to others was learned early in
my life. Once I was able to parallel my perspective to hers, it was just a matter of composing my own story. Mine was my
liberalism in conservative environmentsthe fact that frustrates me sometimes. I felt that her struggle frustrated her, too. By
using quotations from her work, I was able to show my own situation to my readers.

On Writing the Paper

The process that I went through to write an essay consisted of three stages. During the first stage, I wrote down every
coherent idea I had for the essay as well as a few incoherent ones. This helped me create a lot of material to work with.
While this initial material doesnt always have direction it provides a foundation for writing. The second stage involved
rereading Richs essay and deciding which parts of it might be relevant to my own story. Looking at my own life and at Richs
work together helped me consolidate my paper. The third and final stage involved taking what is left and refining the style of
the paper and taking care of the mechanics.

Advice for Critical Readers

The first key to being a critical and active reader is to find something in the piece that interests, bothers, encourages, or just
confuses you. Use this to drive your analysis. Remember there is no such thing as a boring essay, only a boring reader.

Reading something once is never enough so reading it quickly before class just wont cut it. Read it once to get

your brain comfortable with the work, then read it again and actually try to understand whats going on in it. You
cant read it too many times.
Ask questions. It seems like a simple suggestion but if you never ask questions youll never get any answers. So,
while youre reading, think of questions and just write them down on a piece of paper lest you forget them after
about a line and a half of reading.

Conclusion
Reading and writing are rhetorical processes, and one does not exist without the other. The goal of a good writer is to
engage his or her readers into a dialog presented in the piece of writing. Similarly, the goal of a critical and active reader is
to participate in that dialog and to have something to say back to the writer and to others. Writing leads to reading and
reading leads to writing. We write because we have something to say and we read because we are interested in ideas of
others.
Reading what others have to say and responding to them help us make that all-important transition from simply having
opinions about something to having ideas. Opinions are often over-simplified and fixed. They are not very useful because, if
different people have different opinions that they are not willing to change or adjust, such people cannot work or think
together. Ideas, on the other hand, are ever evolving, fluid, and flexible. Our ideas are informed and shaped by our
interactions with others, both in person and through written texts. In a world where thought and action count, it is not enough
to simply agree to disagree. Reading and writing, used together, allow us to discuss complex and difficult issues with
others, to persuade and be persuaded, and, most importantly, to act.
Reading and writing are inextricably connected, and I hope that this chapter has shown you ways to use reading to inform
and enrich you writing and your learning in general. The key to becoming an active, critical, and interested reader is the
development of varied and effective reading techniques and strategies. Id like to close this chapter with the words from the
writer Alex Cimino-Hurt: Being able to read critically is important no matter what you plan on doing with your career or life
because it allows you to understand the world around you.

Sources
Bartholomae, David and Anthony Petrosky, Eds. Introduction. Ways of Reading. 8th Ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's,
2008.
Brent, Douglas. 1992. Reading as Rhetorical Invention. NCTE, Urbana, Illinois.
Cimino-Hurt, Alex. Personal Interview. 2003.
Martin, Janette. 2004. Developing Interesting Thoughts: Reading for Research. In Research Writing Revisited: A
Sourcebook for Teachers, eds. Pavel Zemliansky and Wendy Bishop, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH. (3-13).
Rich, Adrienne. 2002. When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-vision. In Ways of Reading, 6th ed. Eds. Bartholomae,
David and Anthony Petrosky. Bedford/St. Martins Boston, (627-645).